In mid-March 2018 I retweeted a tweet which included a photo-shopped image of Peter Dutton as a Nazi.
The Jewish Anti-Defamation Commission criticised me for it. Andrew Bolt published a piece on his blog which was very critical of me. He did not bother to contact me about it for comment, before or after.
At the outset, I would say that I am very sorry that some people were offended by the tweet. It is worth noting that I did not compare our present conduct with the events of the Holocaust, and I never would.
Twitter is not an ideal place for complex ideas. I agree with the ADC that nothing in the Western world today is equivalent to the Holocaust, which cost the lives of millions of Jews. Australia’s detention centres, onshore and offshore, are not death camps.
However it is important to recognise that the Nazi regime spent years generating in the German community a hatred and fear of Jews, without which the Holocaust would not have been possible. The Nazis took control in 1933. By degrees they generated fear and hatred of Jews. If they had introduced the ”final solution” in 1933, I think the German public would have revolted, By spending years spreading lies about Jews, the Nazis were able to get away with increasing mistreatment of Jews: mistreatment which reached flash-point in November 1938 (Kristallnacht) and rapidly descended into the events we call the Holocaust.
Peter Dutton is not doing things equivalent to the unspeakable acts which we call the Holocaust; but he is cultivating a climate of fear and hatred of some (I emphasise some) refugees: in particular Moslems and people who are not white. His wish to encourage white South African farmers to come to Australia under “special arrangements” stands in marked contrast to the fact that he is encouraging Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar, by offering them money if they will go back: but we all know that the plight of Rohingya Muslims is far worse than that of white South African farmers.
The Jewish community in Australia is to be congratulated for its strong advocacy in favour of decent treatment of people seeking asylum. And no wonder: they understand better than most what can happen if fear and hatred are allowed to govern the way people are treated.
I retweeted the image because I regard Peter Dutton as a dangerous force in Australian politics: he is leading the dogwhistle charge to make ordinary Australians fear Moslems generally, and Moslem refugees in particular. He is making life increasingly difficult for them. The pattern of his conduct is familiar: certainly they should be alarmingly familiar to the ADC.
Presumably it suits Peter Dutton for arguments like this to break out, driving a wedge between advocates who broadly agree with each other.
As I say, I am sorry that the tweet offended some people, but the direction in which the conduct of Australia is being taken by Peter Dutton is very troubling: we must be aware of what he is doing.
As George Santayana said “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
PS: the whole thing was brought to light by an article in the Australian, a Murdoch newspaper. It is easy to forget that just before the 2013 Federal election a Murdoch paper ran front page pictures of Rudd and Albanese in Nazi uniforms!
PPS: Since posting this piece on my blog, I received a number of emails. Here is one of them, and my response:
“Mr Burnside
YOUR COMMENTS RE Peter Dutton were inappropriate and wrong
How dare you slander this politician who has done in my opinion a great job in protecting Australia
Yes he has even cleaned up Labor’s mess in getting children out of refugee camps.
Why can’t you give him some credit you righteous person.
Love to hear your comments sorry Mr Bolt didn’t talk to you ….did you ring him first before you published?
Who do you think you are
Regards …”
My response:
“Dear …
Thank you for your email. I am sorry you take such strong exception to my comments about Peter Dutton.
I will not match your personal abuse of me because I do not know who you are or what you do.
However I do know a bit about Peter Dutton, and what he does.
Peter Dutton kept many children in detention (on Nauru) despite his plainly dishonest public claims that there are “no children in detention”. Apparently his dishonesty fooled you. You may not have caught up on the news that being held on Nauru has caused terrible harm to the children who have been sent there. In the past 4 months 2 children have been transferred from Nauru for treatment in Australia. Both were suicidal. Both were about 10 years old. All the experts said that the children could not get appropriate treatment on Nauru. Mr Dutton’s department resisted attempts to bring the children here so that the damage we had done to them could be treated.
Incidentally, you may not have caught up on the fact that self-harm and suicide is extremely rare in children under the age of 12 or 13: except in Australia’s detention system, where it is common.
Peter Dutton says we have to put people in offshore camps in order to prevent asylum seekers from drowning. I do not believe he is troubled about people drowning. In fact I think he is lying about that: if he was truly concerned about people drowning, he would not punish them for not drowning. But if people try to escape persecution and survive the perils of the journey, he forces them to Manus or Nauru and keeps them there for years, in conditions which have attracted criticism from around the world. Of course, he won’t tell you that, because he is too dishonest to admit that he is doing it all for electoral advantage.
Most of the people seeking asylum who are now held on Manus or Nauru have been there for 4 years or more. New Zealand has offered to take 150 people a year from our offshore camps. Peter Dutton has actively discouraged that by making dark noises about trade arrangements. Did you know that Australia spends about $570,000 per refugee per year to keep them offshore: that’s roughly 5 times more than it would cost to keep them in immigration detention in Australia, and roughly 20 times more than it would cost if we let them live in the community until their refugee claims were assessed.
Peter Dutton has been at the forefront of dog-whistling about boat people, in order to persuade a lot of Australians (apparently including you) that cruelty to innocent people is OK: that is what the Nazis did between 1933 and 1938. Oh, by the way, they are innocent people. Even though dishonest politicians call them “illegal” they do not break any law by coming here the way they do in order to seek asylum. None of them is ever charged with having come here without a visa, because it is not an offence. We just jail them indefinitely.
If you have read this far, please feel free to tell me if any of the facts I have set out above is incorrect. Because I am confident that the facts are as I have set them out, I regard Peter Dutton as dishonest, and I regard his dishonesty as profoundly dangerous: it has persuaded decent Australians to tolerate things which would have appalled us 10 or 20 years ago. Peter Dutton is doing what the Nazis did between 1933 and 1938.
Very best wishes… “
Thank you Julian for all you do for refugees. You are right to call out the pattern in Duttons behaviour. I despair that we have powerful people like him making decisions on our behalf that are so inhumane. The people who oppose you can be very nasty, and stupid. Keep the faith.👍👍👍
I think all the anger about comparisons to the Holocaust does not upset survivors, who are now very few. I upsets those who do not see see and do not wish to contemplate the poisonous implications in pre or proto fascist behaviour. Ppl get more freaked out by being criticised as Nazis than by their activities which are like Nazis’
I think the problem is slightly different: when anyone refers to Nazis, it is taken as a reference to the Holocaust. But Germany is a civilised country. The Holocaust was only possible because Germans were induced, step by step, to see Jews as a threat. Only then was it politically possible to establish death camps.
My concern about people like Dutton, Abbott and Morrison is that they are trying to persuade Australians, step by step, to see Muslim boat people as a threat.
And Malcolm Turnbull, because of his political aspirations and despite his intelligence, seems to regard misconduct in a cricket match as more important than continued, sustained human rights abuses.
Your “step by step” analogy is simplistic, misleading and deeply flawed.
It’s time for a reality check:
– The Jews did not execute German baristas in their own cafés
– The Jews did not shoot German police accountants in the backs of their heads as they left work
– The Jews did not plot to blow up German army barracks
– Jewish women did not stab German men in the neck as they slept, in the name of Judaism
– The Jews did not stab Germans in their strassen, while screaming “Shalom!”
– The Jews did not drive trucks over Germans at their Weihnachtsmarkt in Berlin
– The Jews did not gang rape German girls
– The Jews did not mass-molest German girls at Silvester in Cologne
Please get real.
The propogandists sasid “jews in general” did do all those things.
Dutton and others like yourself are weaving similar stories about muslims around a mixture of real events and fabrications in the same way.
The way to “grow up” is to examine each event with reason and evidence and not to make layers of fear inducing myth.
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Harbi – and which asylum seekers asking for Australia’s help are doing those things?
Your condemnation of asylum seekers presumably because they belong to a religion of 1.6 billion people (of whom some are criminals) is the equivalent of condemning Christianity because some of its members are bikies.
Harbi:
“the jews” is as useful a category as “the muslims”. Neither can add much to our understanding.
Get real.
Interesting, I in the first instance think of the term nazi as a no compromising restrictive authoritarian. I.e. the soup nazi in Seinfeld
Julian, I so agree with the dangerous and no doubt deliberate insideousness of it all. And judging from the lack of public outcry about Australia’s continuing treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, including quietly stopping so many of their social security payments only the other day, in comparison to the over the top reaction of the cricket cheating, it appears to be working.
And of course the Murdoch press plays a huge role…..
Julian, your step by step hypothesis is an accurate and revealing explanation of the attitudes that are becoming evident in Australian society. We need to look no further than the childish response by Harbi (one who hides his identity) in this exchange of views.
Historians will look at the decline of Australian society in years to come and I have no doubt that your hypothesised cause of the disintegration of civil society will become the accepted explanation.
Surthe ely the only answer is to make sure Shorten decides to stop incarceration of people offshore and win the next election by making this a core promise.
Thank you Julian. I agree with Kathy above completely. Continue with the good work you do for refugees, many Australians agree with you.
Thank you Julian, for this considered and carefully balanced explanation. Refreshing for a genuine and thoughtful gesture in climate today, given other “sporting” events in Australia and with fascist name calling of MSD students in USA).
It is so important we have well constructed critique of government policy and this government and Minister are intent on creating division and fear in our community.thank you for highlighting the dangerous and divisive action of Dutton
Mostly Julian you are as “wise as a serpent and as harm less as a dove”, even an ex cop from Q land should be allowed a slip or two, but wallowing in treacherous mud and calling if vanilla puree shows a mindset that is warped by bitterness and fear. Yes PD I believe that Jesus said by your fruits you shall know them, tragically the fruits stink and is poisoning our “don’t worry she’ll be all right mate fleeing asylum seekers.
I agree with Kathy Brown wholeheartedly, Julian. You are a wonderful advocate for a just and compassionate society and you’re right about Dutton’s steady and deliberate campaign to sow seeds of hate and intolerance, just as the Nazis did in Germany. I didn’t think for a minute that your Tweet made any claim that the plight of refugees was in any way as terrible as the Holocaust, so it’s really unfortunate that it was seen as such, although I can also fully understand and appreciate the legitimate sensitivities of Jewish people. Keep us the tweets!
Dutton would fit right in with the gestapo.
Dutton is no Nazi, but he is without doubt a heartless autocratic automaton.
There are highly intelligent people on both sides of politics and armed with all the information and intelligence available to them it beggars belief that between them they can’t find solutions to refugee issues without resorting to the reprehensible strategy of victim punishment unless of course it is for purely for political reasons.
As an ex South African who grew up under the fascist Apartheid regime, I have become increasingly alarmed at Australia’s drift into a “security” state. I am even more alarmed at Peter Dutton’s ignorance and lack of insight because he is marching this country into a future he is incapable of anticipating. The face of evil is stupid? I don’t think so. Fascism has crept up unseen and unrecognised. Almost like the toxic culture that prevails in our cricket team. Thank you for articulating this. It’s not too late for Australia to wake up.
You set a good example to all of, us With MS Media almost completely dominated By Gov supporting Corporate Giants, who have previously shown no hesitation in destroying the reputation of people who rock the boat. we all need to step up and follow the advice given By Edmund Burke.Who said The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. An adage we all need to practice. Never letting a racist remark or action Go unchallenged is the only path forward
The people of Germany (and the world) ended up with the Holocaust. They only elected politicians. They only passed laws…. Thank you for all that you do Julian. I am reminded of Niemoller’s quote ” First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
This quote says it perfectly! The slow, slippery slope we all reside on. Even when concentration camp Dachau was established on German soil well before war started in 1939 they did not speak out! By the time some of them wanted to, it was too late.
In the self-proclaimed country of the ‘fair-go’ whose anthem ‘Advance Australia Fair’ rings out, I’ve long questioned whether our nation really lives up to the glorified image it likes to project to the world: namely, one that treats all human beings equally and respects and welcomes refugees and asylum seekers who are forced to flee the horrors of war and persecution.
Who are we kidding?
We need to demand of those who govern us, to take the lead, to step up and demonstrate the quality of empathy in word and actions, by example.
For, do they?
In parliament ministers yell at each other, behaving in a most boorish manner. No wonder that this crude attitude is replicated on sport fields, in schoolyards or by journos in the media.
A certain etiquette of decency and refinement has gotten lost in a growing atmosphere of fear and mistrust, which is strongly promoted by the likes of Abbott, Hanson and Dutton.
May the goodwill, alertness and resilience of the Australian people see through the con and override the prevailing tide and pull towards fascism, division and hatred.
We are better than this!
I agree it Australia does not wake up to the fact that Dutton is dividing us on this issue of refugees and bringing a police state along with it. I’m afraid.. Now Home Affairs he heads even has more power and no one questions that anymore. What is the Coalition thinking? When does Manus and Nauru become death camps after 10 deaths is that genocide? Most are walking dead, child in a catatonic state, no psychological or trauma and torture services at Manus?
One you stop referring to people by their own actual names you are on a slippery slope. Australians revere the story of the Hero of Gallipoli “Simpson” and his Donkey who was witnessed saving hundreds of Injured except there was no-one named Simpson who went to Gallipoli and Simpson is a name invented by the British in the American Slave Colonies meaning “Son of Simple” or “McStupid” for their Celtic White Slaves (A Derogatory term for a Scotsman as opposed to the Irish “Paddy”) opposed who were transferred to American Slave colonies in greater numbers than African Slave. The 2% Anglican-Episcopal/Presbyterian Deep State was in revolt with the thought of Irish Catholic John F Kennedy had become Present of their Plantation when Catholicism is The USA’s most numerous denomination who 25% of the US adherent to. Kennedy refinanced the Greenback by cutting a deal with Sukarno using the King of Solo’s Gold to (Temporarily) Refinance the US out of British Debt Slavery or Usury. For this it seems Kennedy was shot (Not by set up patsy Lee Harvey Oswald for his Cuban Soviet Connections -where he want as an agent for the CIA) and at the scene in a photograph was CIA Agent HW Bush who became President after Ronald Reagan. HW Bush claimed as an Alibi that he was elsewhere at the time, supposedly giving a lecture. Ann Dunham who was Barack Obama’s Mother who went to Indonesia using the cover of being an Anthropologist was involved in “The Year of Living Dangerously” targeting the Maoist Indonesian Kommunist Party PKI to depose President Sukarno and Install US backed Genocidal Puppet President Soeharto. Former Indonesian President Sukarno died in Prison in 1970 while Indonesia still suffers from the Lateral Violence of the US puppet Soeharto’s Regime that particularly targeted Communists and Christians particularly The Chinese who were usually Christians while the new Chinese Government were Communist. Everyone can see that West Papuans are desriminated against in Indonesia and people jump to the conclusion that this is because they are black yet there never was an issue under the Dutch with Yolngu People from Darwin working on Makassan Fishing boats – the problem with West Papuans that Indonesia’s Majority Muslim Population have is that they are Christian.
I am an 76 year old who was born and brought up in Scotland for 44 years and I have never heard the term McStupid.
Heartfelt thanks for your persistence and integrity
Julian your thought provoking commentary is a welcome respite from the mindless drivel of those of lesser intellect with particular reference to your the potato head and his News Limited chum.
Neither have shown themselves capable of anything resembling critical thought, in anything they have said for years.
One can only hope that the Australian electorate silence them in October this year.
Thankyou Julian for speaking on my behalf, I could not have been so succint.
…and this has been my response to the Australian –
WHAT A LOT OF SIMPLETON NAZI-ESQUE TWADDLE & TRIPE WE GET FROM THE AUSTRALIAN!
What a flat headed antipodean earthling and muddle-headed wombat the Australian is and those who sail in her Judas dark antiquarian belly… clutching on cliche, straws and slogans.
My argument and moral reasoning wraps right around and behind Julian Burnside. I won’t dignify the logical leaps of faith, the knight’s move in every statement posed by the Australian here, but to say; that if we were comparing ‘apples with apples’, this would be the ‘image and the act’ with ‘pictures of the holocaust’ NOT a ‘Nazi uniform’ which symbolises and has many dark meanings, omens and wretched shades of grey, not just a ‘one worst act of man’, do we ignore all woman and mankind’s other griefs?
If I wrap the Australian flag around you and take a picture, do you automatically think of the genocide of Aboriginal inhabitants of this country or indeed the obscene behaviour of Peter Dutton and his ‘Ministry of Inhuman Affairs’ on refugees (perhaps you should) – no of course not, but it is in the wider frame – such hypocrisy we tolerate both from Dutton and the Australian, this federal government, Turnbull, Abbott and ‘the Ministry’.
No retraction required, and as far as I am concerned Dutton may as well be a Nazi, he is directly comparable to them in his general and systematic abuse of power and persistent ‘Goebelian’ lies, propaganda, prejudice and hatred… and I do indeed ask what can we expect of him next in his totalitarian and ‘you are dead to me’ transgression and aggression.
The Jewish community should be wary of imagining and fantasising that this in some way trivialises the holocaust, get a grip and see this twaddle and tripe muddle-headed ‘Judas’ propaganda for what it is – if anything Julian Burnside warns us, which is exactly what this sordid and horrific lesson is all about. Dutton and his belligerents are the threat, there is no defamation in the truth, a cautionary tale or satirical commentary and Dutton knows it, although I do question if he is bright to enough to understand. The Jewish community must not be so proud, political and commercially aligned not to see the dangers of splitting the vote on and against humanity!
Copy of text article here because of the Australian’s nasty little corporate paywall on what is of public interest and concern if they are going to hammer this line on the public, particularly given their continued attack on human rights advocates and partisan politics with intent to misinform the public and electorate – After all THIS IS AN OPINION PIECE masquerading as news, the vitriolic speaks for itself hereon so opines the Australian:
******
The Australian, 28 March 2018 – ‘A Disgrace to Trivialise Genocide’, which the editors appear to have since re-titled, ‘Burnside condemned for sharing Nazi Dutton photo’
Forgive me for making several, actually it will be three comments here; this being the second. Please note article cited which is highly relevant to understanding the counterpoint to the allegation of ‘trivialising the holocaust’, which of course is simply not true.
WE SHOULD BE MAKING NO APOLOGY TO DUTTON OR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY – THE IDEA PROPAGATED IS NOTHING SHORT OF DELINQUENT JOURNALISM AND POLITICAL HYPOCRISY – Here’s why:
Bang on cue but Dutton will never understand this save less tolerate any criticism, and that makes the rest of us very vulnerable, but particularly those currently in detention, refugees; and the ‘african gangs’, those on Centrelink assistance, human rights advocates, those who don’t have white skin or come from non-english speaking countries, Muslims and faiths other than christian (more specifically a particular denomination), those who disagree with Dutton, the ABC, the Guardian, New Matilda, The AIM Network, the free press, just about every NGO in Australia you can think of, and you and me.
Remember we are already ‘dead to him’ and this is from a marginally elected politician in a ‘so called’ free democratic society, who became minister and has been the worst minister in two portfolios in Australian history, and now commands at whim all the national security forces in addition to the Federal Police, Australian Border Force, immigration and citizenship. He is already attacking the free press and the Judiciary in his secret operations and spy ring. Mid 1930’s Germany we are I’d say and we should be declaring it from the hill tops.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/22/its-ok-to-compare-australia-in-2016-with-nazi-germany-and-heres-why/
Firstly I would like to thank Julian Burnside for all his wonderful work with refugees and asylum seekers. As a Jew, I take no offence at Dutton being portrayed as a Nazi. Being a Nazi is not the same as taking part in the Holocaust.
As a Jew, I know that the views of Jewish people are very, very diverse, just as the views of Muslim people are very, very diverse. It really worries me, Jon Chesterson, when you refer to the Jewish community as if we all thought in the same way. Implying that belonging to a certain religion or ethnicity defines the way a person thinks, is very dangerous. It allows the faults of some members of a group to be blamed on all members of that group. It allows for the demonizing of a whole people whenever one or more members of that group do something wrong. Individuals are just that; individuals.
Touché
This my third and final comment – for those with a more poetic and less analytical appreciation of the world around us, I add this to the critics and free-thinkers of our world alike:
The sheep and a billy goat short of a cobby
white-as an Afrikaans farm,
they went to bed for hell and a hobby,
dead squats in a ‘straylian barn.
The sheep with a tag and peculiar dag,
flag and visa bizarre;
for shag and a wag with that gun lobby
‘oh what a mutton-head Dutton you are
you are
you are!
What a mutton-head Dutton you are!’…
Australian Whimsical, Barddylbach © Jon C
24 March 2018, Blue Mountains
For full poem: Monster for Home and ‘Inhuman’ Affairs (Song of the Deadz) https://allpoetry.com/poem/13800841-Monster-for-Home-and-Inhuman-Affairs–Song-of-the-Deadz–by-Barddylbach
…..and the article to go with the poem, the current affair:
Monster of Home and Inhuman Affairs – The AIM Network, 24 March 2018 https://theaimn.com/monster-of-home-and-inhuman-affairs/
SNIP: ‘They’re dead to me’ said Dutton, if that is so what does this mean for Australian democracy, constituency, elections, free speech and the role of a government minister, and a department so large and secret, it might even put Harry Potter to shame?
A marriage of fantasy, sail away …
It is no sin to elope today with who ever you want, man or woman, and it’s not illegal to sail away to the shore of another country if you are fleeing from tyranny, but no one told Dutton that!
Billy-goat-bellyache cactus on sand,
land where the billabong hangs from a gum tree;
what desert can ever be flatter than that
but cheap-as mutton-heads ‘deadz to me’
deadz to me
deadz to me?
What a mutton-head Dutton you are!
Its Amazing how personally sensitive our public officials are And how callous they are when it comes to the treatment of others. To compare the actions of our selectively elected politicians with the actions of some other is a legitimate way of getting perspective. Some of these people have no problem with comparing themselves with others in a positive light. Ms Hanson self evaluation as a Mandela clone a clearly risible example. But to compare Dutton’s action of a cynical “Sophies Choice’ perpetrated on the families of asylum seekers an afront to public sensitivities? We are moral cripples
e
.
Hi Julian,
Thank you for all you do.
I am not on Twitter but support your right to include that photo.
Dutton is a dangerous racist who has caused Australia’s international reputation irreparable harm and unnecessary pain, suffering, and in some cases death, to asylum seekers interned on offshore gulags as political pawns.
He and his henchmen make me ashamed to be Australian.
Mr Burnside.
I understand and agree with your analogy of “Peter Dutton The Nazi”
Unfortunate for him he is a carbon copy of “ADOLPH HITLER” almost for
creating fear, persercution, hatred, and discrimination and intolerance against refugee’s and asylum seekers. He may be an ex-cop and all but still he (DUTTON) is presenting that very image Jewish people, and other nations has come to hate and intensely dislike ( That of Hitler-Leader of the Nazi’s ) I will go so far to say that the Jewish community should NOT HAVE MISINTERPRETED your photo to be critical of them or of the holocaust, that was wrong of them to do so and be so.
Sure, they have a right to feel offended, I sympathise with them on it but I will not understand them for being offended by the photo when it was made clear that it was in reference to other minority people being mistreated and not the jewish people.
I certainly hope the Jewish community offered an apology to you for that?
Now Back to Dutton.
Dutton is certainly the worst when it comes to immigration, border security and etc under his portfolio, in almost 32yrs of being able to vote, have i ever seen any politician as bad as he is being. Dutton is a shame and plight and embarrassment to this country and what we stand for. but he is also by far the worst racist politician ever to be in the position he is.
When people go to vote next, I hope they remember his long list of offences and his track record and his embarrassment to this country and making us look bad.
Peter dutton again, is a Nazi wannabe, he is racist, discrimitive, predijuiced, hateful, intolerant and deceitful when it comes to his portfolio and I hope that the good people of Australia as wellas the Jewish people and communities get behind you and tell it like it is and how dutton so resembles Hitler, a man we and many other countries have come to hate for his crimes against people he did not like………….
I want the Jewish community to remember this though.
As offended as they are you published a photo of dutton in a nazi uniform,
Dutton’s own comments will and should haunt him.
He want’s to have “WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN FARMERS HERE” to save them,
Hitler wanted a WHITE RACE OF PEOPLE and any that did not fit that mould was executed.
Very striking comments and ideology from 2 different people of 2 different
origins, same effect.
I am approving this comment because it is not spam.
I do not agree with all of it.
From what I’ve read, you are correct in saying it is extremely rare for young children to contemplate suicide. I can’t find any instance of it having occurred during the holocaust.. What I have read is that parents and others in those dire situations made tremendous efforts to make children feel as secure as they possibly could. Unfortunately the little children in detention here have not been so lucky and I’m convinced that the behaviour of the adults and advocates around them have been a terrible influence. Fleeing from horrific circumstances to tropical islands where food, shelter, medical attention, education is provided is a far cry from the conditions in those European death camps and I believe the children here could have been and should have been protected from the advocates whom I hold responsible for the misery the detainees believe themselves to be in. Shameful!
Thanks for your great work Julian, and courage to publicly name Dutton as the dangerous dog-whistler that he is. Not sure if you have seen today’s ABC ‘fact check’ around South African murder stats: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-05/fact-check-were-400-white-south-african-farmers-murdered-year/9591724…
Keep up the good fight.
Thanks for all you have done in speaking up for refugees and human rights generally. After witnessing the appalling treatment of Gillian Triggs and the increasing power vested in Dutton, it is difficult not to feel despair.
Julian Burnside seems unwilling to confront the discomfiting evidence which demonstrates that his wrongheaded Nazi analogy is misplaced.
– Hitler exterminated Jews.
– Mohammed exterminated Jews(1).
– Islam advocates the extermination of Jews(2).
There is your Nazi analogy.
Unlike Mohammed or Hitler, Dutton has not exterminated Muslims.
Unlike Islam or Nazism, Dutton does not advocate the extermination of Muslims.
There are hard choices to be made when one’s weltanschauung is threatened by the facts:
– To censor or not to censor
There are hard choices to be made when allowing immigration into Australia
– should Australia run the risk of importing a provably anti-semitic ideology?
(1)
“Then the apostle went out to the market of Medina (which is still its market today) and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for [the captive men and boys of the Banu Qurayzah] and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches… There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900.”
Ibn Hisham’s As-Seera an-Nabaviyya (710)
The apostle said, “Kill any Jew that falls into your power.”
Ibn Ishaq – Sirat Rasul Allah, p369
“Mohammed said: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.”
Sahih Muslim 4366
(2)
“The Jews …and the Christians… may Allah destroy them!”
Quran 9:30
Harbi, you have heard of Gaza, right?
And selecting bits and pieces from “sacred texts” to suit your own purposes is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. Here’s one from your “sacred text”:
Deuteronomy 22:20-21:
“If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death.”
Just one, harbi, just one of hundreds! Get off your dungheap for a while.
George, I hold no text sacred but at least I try to read and understand them.
Your textual comparison is ill-considered.
Jesus’ life and teachings are exemplary for Christians, relegating Old Testament barbarities which contradict his example to the historical waste bin.
e.g. Jesus said: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her [the adulterer].”
Likewise, Mohammed’s life and teachings are exemplary for Muslims, providing a template for Muslim behaviour.
e.g. Mohammed said: “The adulterer must be stoned”(1)
This explains why Christianity does not advocate stoning adulterers to death whereas Islamic law does.
[‘Umdat as-Salik wa ‘Uddat an-Nasik – o4.17, o12.2, o12.6]
A useful way to help understand the difference between Christianity and Islam is to compare the life and teachings of Jesus to those of Mohammed:
– Jesus said: “Love your neighbour”
– Mohammed said: “Kill any Jew that falls into your power”
[Ibn Ishaq – Sirat Rasul Allah, p369]
To summarise:
– Jesus was a pacifist who preached love and forgiveness.
– Mohammed was a warlord who preached hatred and violence:
“Mohammed ordered and their hands and feet were cut off and nails were drawn into their eyes, and they were thrown out of Harrah. They begged for water but were not supplied water.”
Sunan Abu Dawud Book 39, Hadith 4351
That’s real “bottom-of-the-barrel stuff”.
(1)
Muhammad said: “The adulterer must be stoned.”
Ibn Ishaq 970
“So the Prophet ordered the two adulterers to be stoned to death… I saw her companion (i.e. the adulterer) bowing over her so as to protect her from the stones.”
Sahih Bukhari 6:60:79
“Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Take him and stone him. Ibn Shihab said: We stoned him at the place of prayer. When the stones hurt him, he ran away. We caught him in the Harra and stoned him (to death).”
Sahih Muslim Book 017, Number 4196
“He (the Holy Prophet)… pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her. Khalid b Walid came forward with a stone which he flung at her head and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid and so he abused her.”
Sahih Muslim Book 017, Number 4206
Narrated Nu’aym: Ma’iz came to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and admitted (having committed adultery) four times in his presence so he ordered him to be stoned to death, but said to Huzzal: If you had covered him with your garment, it would have been better for you.
Sunan Abu Dawud Book 38 : Hadith 4364